Biologic Bike Mount for iPhone 4 | Review

When Kurt wrote his review of Wahoo Fitness’s Fisica Sensor Case for iPhone he talked about some of the technical aspects of the case:

Made from ABS, the case is durable and weatherproof. Overall control of your iPhone is possible through the clear lexan screen cover, that works very well to the touch and I found that I could navigate with gloves on.

I don’t much care about that kind of thing and figure that if you do you can get all that information from the source.

What we’re going to focus on today is iPhone safety and overall dork factor.
Let me just get this out of the way quickly, mounting an iPhone to your handle bars is going to make you look like a dork but, as you probably wear lycra or, at the very least, a helmet that makes your head look like a mushroom, you’re probably used to the judgement of others and don’t much mind a few judging looks from guys with disk wheels and aerobars screaming past you at 21.5 mph – that is if you can even see their judging looks at that incredibly fast speed that requires a $5,000 bike build to even come close to hitting.

I digress…

The iPhone is big when compared to a standard cycle computer. The Bike Mount makes it slightly larger. If that kind of thing bugs you, go out and by a proper GPS unit and don’t bother with the rest of this review. If, however, you are a bike commuter who likes the idea of having a some GPS tracking available at the touch of a finger and the possibility of easily texting – while stopped, of course – your loved ones to let them know that you’ll be delayed because of a 35 mph headwind, this Bike Mount might be for you.

The Bike Mount is really a mount and a water/shock resistant case for your iPhone 4 (or iPhone 3G/3GS). The phone rests in a removable nest of silicone, complete with cutouts for front and rear cameras and headphone/charger ports. The phone and silicone bed are then enclosed in a hard plastic case with touch-sensitive membrane so you can actually use your phone while mounted.

After more than 50 rides with my iPhone on my handlebars, some of it in the moist early morning, I can vouch for the cases ability to keep my phone dry – and my warranty intact. Additionally, while I opted not to hurling my phone across the room to test the “shockproof” qualities of the case, I did drop the phone one while rolling slowly through a parking lot. The case and phone held up nicely, but I made it a point not to do that again.

The mount itself is my favorite part of the case. It’s easy to get on the bike and easy to move around. Basically, the mount attaches to the bike via a threaded plastic strap. You wrap the strap around the stem or handle bar – I guess you could mount it on the seatpost or downtube if you’d like – thread the strap into a little hole and tighten using provided Allen key – you are warned not to over tighten the mount as, presumably, the plastic strap might break, but I avoided testing that outcome as well. Once the mount is on the bike, the case snaps on via a rotating clippy bit.

Overall, I thought the Bike Mount was well designed and did exactly what I wanted it to do; safely mounted my iPhone where I could see it. The mounting process was easy and didn’t require a bulk supply of zip-ties for when you wanted to move it. In the end, it turned out that – at least on longer “training” rides – I didn’t really love having my iPhone on my handlebars. It’s big and bulky and tends to get in the way, especially when out of the saddle. My commutes were a different story. Having the phone handy on my way home made it possible for my wife to text me, “ride faster, the kids are hungry.” And for me to easily text back, when stopped, to let her know my ETA.